Prediction of Fouling and Slagging in Pulverized-Coal Fired Furnaces

The objective of this paper is to develop a method for predicting the fouling dynamics and thermal resistance of a certain coal and its fly ash in a coal-fired utility boiler as well as determine the emissivity of the fly ash in order to optimize soomblowing procedures for fouling clean-up. The methodology comprises combustion experiment in a 50kW test facility, characterization of the coal and its mineral matter and the consequent fly ash as well a series of computational fluid dynamic simulations. Ash deposition from Cerrejon D Colombian and Billiton-Prime South African coals were studied and their behavior predicted in 575MW tangentially-fired and 550MW opposite-wall boilers. Good comparison was obtained between predicted results and actual data from the boilers.